Atlanta has no shortage of culinary institutions that serve up a good southern style fried chicken. Whether it’s a fast food chain like Popeyes, a high end version from Watershed, or a new player in town like American Food and Beverage, there’s plenty of fried chicken to go around and satisfy your craving. That being said, there’s one place in Atlanta that stands out in my mind for having the best fried chicken in town: Busy Bee Cafe. Busy Bee is THE place I go when I have a serious hankering for soul food in the form of crispy fried chicken and sugary sweet tea. [Read more…]

Standard tools for a night of Korean karaoke: laminated song book, obnoxious tambourine, crazy remote with too many buttons, and a mic with a disposable covering

Back in my UGA college years when I could afford such luxuries as spontaneity, my friends and I would frequently pile into a car on a random weekday night and drive 40 minutes on 316 from Athens to Atlanta just to karaoke.

It doesn’t matter if you can’t sing or carry a tune. It doesn’t even matter if you don’t like music (what are you, a robot?). As long as you are in good company, karaoke can mean good times for all.

New to Korean karaoke? It’s simple – you get a private room for your group (yup, its that literal), order lots of drinks and food, pick songs from a giant song book, and let the disco lights inspire you. Most Korean karaoke bars will have an extensive list of Korean music, impressive amount of American hits, and adequate sampling of international fare (Chinese, Russian, etc).

Over the years I have begrudgingly curbed my relationship with ramen as MSG induced hangovers were not meshing well with my aging body. However, about 2 years ago I attained a foodie’s enlightenment from heaven–ramen graduated from the “5 for a dollar” late night regret that I once knew into a mom-approved, grown up companion of steamy goodness.

So, when the Kimchi Belles offered this Thai Beau a chance to go chow down on ramen for free and write about it, I did what any secret ramen lover would do… kindly ask his wife (a.k.a – baby mama) for permission with hopes their newborn child hadn’t been fussy all day. Whew–success for all.

Makan, is a much needed Asian addition to the foodie scene located in Decatur town square. (Check out Kimchi Belles’ earlier write-up from Makan’s opening here.) The event brought together 7 amazing local chefs to stretch their creative culinary noodles along with donating all proceeds to The Giving Kitchen, a nonprofit that provides crisis grants to those in the restaurant community.

The night began with me arriving promptly at 8pm and seeing a line literally out the door. Ramen Fest sold out and the restaurant was at max capacity for the evening.

The place was packed with late 20 to 30 somethings eager to fill their bellies and social feeds with delicious noodles and savory broth.

There were human chains formed at every corner of the restaurant as everyone played musical chairs, moving from one line to the next with a bowl of ramen in tow hoping to get to all 8 ramen stations.

Unfortunately for me, 3 out of 8 ramen stations were slurped dry and my ramen fest came to a screeching halt. From what I did get to try, I enjoyed St Cecilia’s Italian ramen the most because it was very creative and the ingredients complimented one another so well. Nonetheless, there are plans in the making for a bigger and better #AtlRamenFest 2. Until then, you can feast your eyes on the early spoils of the night captured by Creative Loafing’s Brad Kaplan as he put together an amazing collage of all 8 ramen bowls.

Thank you, Kimchi Belles for affording me the chance to reignite my Xanga blogger skills from college days past. I found myself typing away into the wee hours of the morning as my wife and newborn daughter slept away. So, we will see where my inner blogger goes from here. For now, I will leave you with a throw back photo of Sue (and John!), circa 2004.

Unfortunately, I was unable to find one for Jin, so I’ll keep searching my archives to embarrass highlight her next time. Thanks, Kimchi Belles!